Quote:
Jean-Claude Rousseau is a filmmaker who believes in the natural power of images. The rigid compositions create something like a pure state, which constantly changes during the period of its viewing – like an empty and simultaneously detail-packed field. During this period the viewer is challenged to find and occupy his own position, to find his perspective in a similar way the filmmaker has found his in several places. Festival combines places the artist has visited during the last few years. Jean-Claude Rousseau’s films not only make beautiful discoveries, they are beautiful discoveries.Read More »

A compulsive gambler must steal a suitcase full of money, which is also coveted by Melba, a cabaret singer. A getaway ensues.Read More »

Synopsis:
Maude, engaged to a doctor, was adopted years earlier by the president of an anti-alcoholic league. She becomes infatuated with a Gypsy violinist, who, after kidnapping and restraining the girl’s fiancé takes her to his villa and, to try to make her give in to his coaxing, has some gypsies offer her champagne.

Whilst incomplete and suffering from a certain amount of nitrate decomp – there are around four quite bad bouts of this, if memory serves – enough of the film survives to provide a coherent, if whimsical, narrative with pleasing performances and some charming special effects. There is much to recommend the film stylistically with a good mix of long, medium and close-up shots, some thoughtful shot compositions and several instances where characters exit shot toward the side of the camera, providing a candid feel.Read More »

An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.Read More »

Classic German erotica featuring various people in various situations played for comical effect.Read More »

Five men share a secret that has deadly consequences in this thriller from Belgium. When Filip (Matthias Schoenaerts), a playboy with a wild streak, finally settles down and gets married, his good friend Vincent (Filip Peeters) presents him and three of his friends with a special gift. Vincent is an architect, and after supervising the renovation of a apartment block, he installed a luxurious penthouse flat for the use of himself and his married pals, where they can enjoy liaisons with other women without their spouses becoming any the wiser. Filip, Vincent and three of their buddies — hard-drinking ladies’ man Marnix (Koen de Graeve), Filip’s psychoanalyst brother Chris (Koen De Bauw) and taciturn Luc (Bruno Vanden Broecke) — are the only ones with keys to the flat, and the only ones who are supposed to know it exists. But one day one of the five checks into the apartment and discovers a woman’s bloody corpse shackled to the bed; one of their group is a murderer, but who is the killer and how can the others keep this a secret from the police and their families? Loft was directed by Erik Van Looy and written by Bart de Pauw, both of whom got their start in the film business as actors.Read More »

An in depth look at the making of Kurosawa’s films.

The series consists of episodes of varying length, typically between 30 and 60 minutes, which chronicle the making of Kurosawa’s films. Altogether 21 of Kurosawa’s 30 films are covered by the series: basically, the ones that he shot for Toho studios.Read More »

Two young people meet when they are punished for travelling on the train without a ticket and discover shortly afterwards that they work in the same factory. Their good connection is hindered by her bad memory of her alcoholic father.
(FILMAFFINITY)Read More »

Quote:
John Wayne is generally credited with having directed only one picture, the 1960 version of The Alamo, but according to several reports, Wayne also “lent a hand” in getting his other 1960 film, the raucous if unfocused and overlong North to Alaska, shot as well. North to Alaska had a rather troubled pre-production history, which in fact included Wayne’s involvement with The Alamo, which delayed production of this film for several months. Those delays may have at least contributed to a rather convoluted revolving door of producers, directors and co-stars, and by many accounts, there was no completed script ready when North to Alaska finally started shooting in mid 1960. The film has serious structure issues, and indeed often seems to have been cobbled together out of set pieces, with no real thought given to through line or that oft-lamented concept of character arc. Read More »